The Graduate Center of the City University of New York History Department Hist 80200 Literature of Modern Europe II Thursdays 4:15-6:15 GC 3310A Prof. Benjamin Hett e-mail bhett@hunter.cuny.edu GC office 5404 Office hours Thursdays 2:00-4:00 or by appointment Course Description: This course is intended to provide an introduction to the major themes and historians debates on modern European history from the 18 th century to the present. We will study a wide range of literature, from what we might call classic historiography to innovative recent work; themes will range from state building and imperialism to war and genocide to culture and sexuality. After completing the course students should have a solid basic grounding in the literature of modern Europe, which will serve as a basis for preparation for oral exams as well as for later teaching and research work. Requirements: In a small seminar class of this nature effective class participation by all students is essential. Students will be expected to take the lead in class discussions: each week one student will have the job of introducing the literature for the week and to bring to class questions for discussion. Over the semester students will write a substantial historiographical paper (approximately 20 pages or 6000 words) on a subject chosen in consultation with me, due on the last day of class, May 13. The paper should deal with a question that is controversial among historians. Students must also submit two short response papers (2-3 pages) on readings for two of the weekly sessions of the course, and I will ask for annotated bibliographies for your historiographical papers on March 28. Learning Objectives: By the end of the course, students should be able: to demonstrate a command of several of the recent historiographical themes in twentieth-century European history; to analyze individual works in terms of cogency of argument, the appropriateness of the sources, and clarity of organization; and to put together several works into larger arguments in preparation for passing the first written examination. Books:
As many books as possible have been placed on reserve at the Graduate Center library. Some other readings (marked with an * on the syllabus) will be posted to Blackboard. Although I will not require you to purchase any books, given the use we will make of the following (and the use I suspect they will be to you in the future) I recommend purchase of: Jonathan Sperber, The European Revolutions Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 Dagmar Herzog, Sex After Fascism Often it is helpful, depending on your background, to read a textbook to get some of the basic narrative of periods or regions of history with which you may not be familiar. For this course I recommend in particular the following unusually good textbooks: Jonathan Sperber, Revolutionary Europe 1780-1850 and Europe 1850-1914 Robert Paxton, Europe in the Twentieth Century (any edition is fine) David Blackbourn, The Long Nineteenth Century Stephen Kotkin s Stalin: Paradoxes of Power and Stalin: Waiting for Hitler are in effect textbooks on Russian and Soviet history between the 1870s and the 1940s Peter Clarke, Hope and Glory: Britain 1900-2000... and Tony Judt s Postwar from the list above Grade Breakdown Final Paper 40% Class Participation 30% Response Papers 15% each total 30% Week One January 31: Introduction to the course... and an introduction to the gentle art of gutting a book Week Two February 7: State Building Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation John Brewer, The Sinews of Power: War, Money and the English State 1688-1783 James Allen Vann, The Making of a State: Württemberg 1593-1793 (intro and p. 133 to the end) Week Three February 14: Revolutions
Lynn Hunt, The Family Romance of the French Revolution Jonathan Sperber, The European Revolutions 1848-1851 David Bell, The First Total War Week Four February 21: The German Problem Hans Ulrich Wehler, The German Empire 1871-1918 David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History (GC electronic resource) *Helmut Walser Smith, When the Sonderweg Debate Left Us Week Five February 28: Imperialism Isabel Hull, Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany C.A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914, especially Introduction and chapters 6 and 13 Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, Overture, chapters 1, 3, 4, 11-13 and Epilogue. Week Six March 7: The First World War Fritz Fischer, Germany s Aims in the First World War (ch. 2) Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (chapters 6-12) *Terrence Zuber, The Schlieffen Plan Reconsidered, War in History vol. 6(3) 1999: 262-305 Belinda Davis, Home Fires Burning: Food, Politics and Everyday Life in World War I Berlin (GC electronic resource) Week Seven March 14: Fascism and Nazism Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism chs 1-3, 5, 8 Ruth Ben Ghiat, Fascist Modernities: Italy 1922-1945 Peter Fritzsche, Germans into Nazis Week Eight March 21: Stalinism Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (chs. 1-3, GC electronic resource) Isaac Deutscher, Stalin (selections) Sheila Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism Stephen Kotkin, Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization
Week Nine March 28: World War II and the Holocaust Annotated bibliographies due March 28 Max Hastings, Inferno (selections) Saul Friedländer, Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Extermination (chs V-VII) *Christopher Browning, The Nazi Decision to Commit Mass Murder: Three Interpretations, German Studies Review, 17(3) October 1994: 473-481 Week Ten April 4: Memories and Culture Wars Nicolas Berg, The Holocaust and the West German Historians Tony Judt, Past Imperfect Dagmar Herzog, Sex After Fascism Week Eleven April 11: Ends of Empires Tony Judt, Postwar (ch. 9 Lost Illusions ) Caroline Elkins, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain s Gulag in Kenya (GC library as Britain s Gulag) Todd Shepard, The Invention of Decolonization Kristin Ross, Fast Cars, Clean bodies: Decolonization and the Reordering of French Culture (find what is relevant to decolonization) Week Twelve April 18: End of Communism Tony Judt, Postwar (chapters XVIII and XIX) *Charles Maier, Dissolution: The Crisis of Communism and the End of East Germany, chapter 2 Timothy Garton Ash, The Magic Lantern (selections) Stephen Kotkin, Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment Week Thirteen April 25: Spring Break! **And Note: No class May 2 because the last two classes are shifted to Monday, 4:15-6:15, Room 4422
Week Fourteen May 6: NOTE DATE Jointly with Professor Nasaw and the US Lit Class: Brave New Worlds I Adam Tooze, Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World (2018) Week Fifteen May 13: NOTE DATE Jointly with Professor Nasaw and the US Lit Class: Brave New Worlds II Final Papers Due May 13 Alfred W. McCoy, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of the US Global Power * Der Spiegel Reveals Internal Fraud, Der Spiegel, December 20, 2018 * Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, Chapter 1 *** Your First Year Written Exam is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21